POLISCI 214R:Challenges and Dilemmas in American Foreign Policy (POLISCI 314R)

This seminar will examine the complexities and trade offs involved in foreign policy decision-making at the end of the twentieth century and the dawn of the post-9/11 era. Students will analyze dilemmas confronting policymakers through case studies including post-conflict reconstruction and state-building, nuclear proliferation, democratization and peace negotiation. The seminar will conclude with a 48-hour crisis simulation. For advanced undergraduates and graduate students. Application for enrollment required. Applications will be available for pick up in Political Science Department (Encina West 100) starting late-October.

2018-2019 Winter

POLISCI 214R |
5 units |
Class #
25751
|
Section 01 |
Grading: Letter (ABCD/NP) |
SEM
01/07/2019 - 03/15/2019 Tue 1:30 PM - 4:20 PM with Rice, C. (PI)
Instructors: Rice, C. (PI)
Notes: Admission based on application. Instructor consent required. Applications will be available for pickup in the Political Science Office (Encina West 100) starting Monday, October 15, 2018 and must be returned in hard copy to the Political Science Office by 12pm on Friday, November 2, 2018. Students who are abroad may email Brenna Curtis (brennab@stanford.edu) for a copy of the application. Admission based on application. Instructor consent required.

What is the basis of private action for the public good? How are charitable dollars distributed and what role do nonprofit organizations and philanthropic dollars play in a modern democracy? In the ¿Philanthropy Lab¿ component of the course, students will award $100,000 in grants to local nonprofits. Students will explore how nonprofit organizations operate domestically and globally as well as the historical development and modern structure of civil society and philanthropy. Readings in political philosophy, history, political sociology, and public policy. Political Science majors who are taking this course to fulfill the WIM requirement should enroll in
POLISCI 236S.

What is the basis of private action for the public good? How are charitable dollars distributed and what role do nonprofit organizations and philanthropic dollars play in a modern democracy? In the ¿Philanthropy Lab¿ component of the course, students will award $100,000 in grants to local nonprofits. Students will explore how nonprofit organizations operate domestically and globally as well as the historical development and modern structure of civil society and philanthropy. Readings in political philosophy, history, political sociology, and public policy. Political Science majors who are taking this course to fulfill the WIM requirement should enroll in
POLISCI 236S.

POLISCI 247A:Games Developing Nations Play (ECON 162, POLISCI 347A)

If, as economists argue, development can make everyone in a society better off, why do leaders fail to pursue policies that promote development? The course uses game theoretic approaches from both economics and political science to address this question. Incentive problems are at the heart of explanations for development failure. Specifically, the course focuses on a series of questions central to the development problem: Why do developing countries have weak and often counterproductive political institutions? Why is violence (civil wars, ethnic conflict, military coups) so prevalent in the developing world, and how does it interact with development? Why do developing economies fail to generate high levels of income and wealth? We study how various kinds of development traps arise, preventing development for most countries. We also explain how some countries have overcome such traps. This approach emphasizes the importance of simultaneous economic and political development as two different facets of the same developmental process. No background in game theory is required.

POLISCI 247G:Governance and Poverty

Poverty relief requires active government involvement in the provision of public services such as drinking water, healthcare, sanitation, education, roads, electricity and public safety. Failure to deliver public services is a major impediment to the alleviation of poverty in the developing world. This course will use an interdisciplinary approach to examining these issues, bringing together readings from across the disciplines of political science, economics, law, medicine and education to increase understanding of the complex causal linkages between political institutions, the quality of governance, and the capacity of developing societies to meet basic human needs. Conceived in a broadly comparative international perspective, the course will examine cross-national and field-based research projects, with a particular focus on Latin America and Mexico.

(Formerly
IPS 230) This course explores the different dimensions of development - economic, social, and political - as well as the way that modern institutions (the state, rule of law, and democratic accountability) developed and interacted with other factors across different societies around the world.

POLISCI 314R:Challenges and Dilemmas in American Foreign Policy (POLISCI 214R)

This seminar will examine the complexities and trade offs involved in foreign policy decision-making at the end of the twentieth century and the dawn of the post-9/11 era. Students will analyze dilemmas confronting policymakers through case studies including post-conflict reconstruction and state-building, nuclear proliferation, democratization and peace negotiation. The seminar will conclude with a 48-hour crisis simulation. For advanced undergraduates and graduate students. Application for enrollment required. Applications will be available for pick up in Political Science Department (Encina West 100) starting late-October.

2018-2019 Winter

POLISCI 314R |
5 units |
Class #
25752
|
Section 01 |
Grading: Letter (ABCD/NP) |
SEM
01/07/2019 - 03/15/2019 Tue 1:30 PM - 4:20 PM with Rice, C. (PI)
Instructors: Rice, C. (PI)
Notes: Admission based on application. Instructor consent required. Applications will be available for pickup in the Political Science Office (Encina West 100) starting Monday, October 15, 2018 and must be returned in hard copy to the Political Science Office by 12pm on Friday, November 2, 2018. Students who are abroad may email Brenna Curtis (brennab@stanford.edu) for a copy of the application. Admission based on application. Instructor consent required.

This course provides an overview of core ethical problems in international politics, with special emphasis on the question of what demands justice imposes on institutions and agents acting in a global context. It is divided into three sections. The first investigates the content of global justice, and comprises of readings from contemporary political theorists and philosophers who write within the liberal contractualist, utilitarian, cosmopolitan, and nationalist traditions. The second part looks at the obligations which global justice generates in relation to a series of real-world issues of international concern: global poverty, human rights, poverty and development, climate change and natural resources, international migration, and the well-being of women. The final section asks whether a democratic international order is necessary for global justice to be realized.

Focus is on the ideal of a just society, and the place of liberty and equality in it, in light of contemporary theories of justice and political controversies. Topics include financing schools and elections, regulating markets, discriminating against people with disabilities, and enforcing sexual morality. Political Science majors taking this course to fulfill the WIM requirement should enroll in
POLISCI 103.

POLISCI 347A:Games Developing Nations Play (ECON 162, POLISCI 247A)

If, as economists argue, development can make everyone in a society better off, why do leaders fail to pursue policies that promote development? The course uses game theoretic approaches from both economics and political science to address this question. Incentive problems are at the heart of explanations for development failure. Specifically, the course focuses on a series of questions central to the development problem: Why do developing countries have weak and often counterproductive political institutions? Why is violence (civil wars, ethnic conflict, military coups) so prevalent in the developing world, and how does it interact with development? Why do developing economies fail to generate high levels of income and wealth? We study how various kinds of development traps arise, preventing development for most countries. We also explain how some countries have overcome such traps. This approach emphasizes the importance of simultaneous economic and political development as two different facets of the same developmental process. No background in game theory is required.